In 2022, Natalia, whose name was changed in the article, was preparing to enroll her six-year-old son in the first grade of a regular state school in the center of her city. But, she says, the attempt ended in scandal at the very first parent orientation meeting.
According to Natalia, she calmly asked what the “Important Conversations” classes would cover. In response, the homeroom teacher, she says, raised her voice in front of other parents in the assembly hall and declared that she “has not changed her principles since the 1980s.”
Natalia recalls that after this exchange, the teacher seemed to immediately treat her as an ideological opponent. She says she felt she had been labeled a “liberal”. The atmosphere at the school only deepened her concern: a carpet with a portrait of Vladimir Putin hung there, and on Mondays first graders were supposed to be marched out in formation for the flag-raising ceremony.
“I realized that I would not send my child to that school. It was literally three days before the school year began,” Natalia says.
She then made what she describes as an urgent and difficult decision to move her son to a fee-paying independent school. According to her, the school offered the family a discount, but tuition still remained unaffordable.
“It is a lot of money for me, a truly significant amount. It is very hard for me to pay for school. But unfortunately, I do not see any other way out,” she says.
By Natalia’s estimate, in the city where her family lives, private school tuition starts at about 55,000 rubles per month and can reach 100,000 rubles or more.